Hobbyist photographer back in the '70s and '80s. Took my first photo when I was five years old, got an SLR when I was ten. (Film, all manual, handheld light meter, we had a darkroom in the basement.)
Shelved the hobby for a couple of decades. Returned recently, this time with digital equipment.

Jack of many trades (and master of none), but I have a professional background in software development.

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Is there a program that does automatic adjustment of levels in a batch?Both Google's Picasa and Adobe Lightroom have an 'auto' option. In Lightroom, at least, you can apply it in bulk. For some photos it works very well, for others it's just awful. Automatic good settings for every picture is not feasible, IMO, but it can save editing time for the pictures where it works.

How effective is HAMA STAR 61 tripod for shooting with Nikon DSLR?I have the Hama Star 62, see my comment to Esa Paulasto. It's better than handholding, but it takes some care and patience to keep it steady. OK with short focal lengths and a remote release. OK if you're just trying to figure out whether you want a tripod at all. But if you're planning to use it quite a bit, I'd suggest finding something more stable.

Jun21

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How effective is HAMA STAR 61 tripod for shooting with Nikon DSLR?+1, since that's pretty much exactly my experience with the Hama Star 62. The legs are decent, I think, but the head is so wobbly that it's hard to focus a 300mm on the moon, and a 2 seconds delay isn't nearly enough for the shaking do die down. Still, with care, holding my breath, and a remote release, it beats handholding. Although I'll be looking for a tripod upgrade very soon.

Is it possible to take HDR-photos straight out of camera?@JørnE.Angeltveit No, you can't. The second exposure adds more light on top of the first exposure, so if either of the exposures blow out the highlights, the multiexposure will be even more blown out since it gets the light from the other exposure on top. A graduated ND is not a general replacement, but it works if your picture has one bright and one dark part and a more-or-less straight line separating them. Or you could use gelatin/plastic ND filters and cut them to the shape you need. IMO multiple shots and post processing is easier.

Jun11

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How does autofocus work?Agree with @mattdm: Phase detection is generally faster, but less accurate than contrast detect. At least according to the lensrentals Canon tests: Contrast detection was just as accurate as careful manual focusing. Phase detect was accurate when it hit, but way off in 10-30% of the cases. A few combinations of the latest lenses (300mm f/2.8) and latest bodies (5D Mk III, but not Mk II) were just as accurate using phase detect. In either case, contrast AF was the gold standard in accuracy.

What devices transfer photos from one flash media to another?@Dan At a guess: $55 for a 320GB external disk, $180 for a 320GB Wolverine, $250 for a 320GB netbook. They have a hard time competing on value since just a bit more money will give you a netbook so you can view your pictures too. What's left is a quite expensive special-purpose device with a tiny market.